Return of the Emblem Chapter Twelve: Divergent Paths

[Phoenix]

Ballroom

Morgana rolled her eyes at Nadya's comment, and Athena just giggled some more. Haythem on the other hand, did have one specific thing to say with regard to their act. "I just know I couldn't use my feet like that, even with practice. I'm just too heavy, I think."

Niel and Laura listened carefully as Theordore spoke to them, praising their performance, but also noting their flaws, which were simply, being too simple. Niel had a feeling they were playing it a little too safe, especially after seeing Athrun's performance with his partner, but he reminded himself that this was all in good fun, and if there was a prize to be won, he certainly hadn't joined up for that, because he didn't know about it.

Laura likewise agreed with Theodore's assessment and nodded a few times as he brought up his points. She also made a mental note to try experimenting with his blending suggestion. She worried it might be difficult to convince Niel to leave their comfort zone with her, but it might lead to some better and more compelling routines in the future.

Niel ended up missing Theodore's pun due to how much he was committing to memory, but Laura caught it and tried not to laugh too noticeably. She wasn't the only one either. The princess and Morgana, adept sanctis jiggers, certainly caught the joke as well.

I see what he did there ... Shadrak mentally noted.

Now that it was her turn, Charis stood up and gently cleared her throat. "I would like to know your names. You five young ladies," she said. When the girls realized she was referring to them, they stepped forward, and waited for Charis' confirmation. She immediately nodded at them.

"Priscilla," "Linna," "Nene," "Sylia," "Gale," they all answered one after the other, and from left to right. They were still well coordinated, even now, which put a smile on Charis' face.

"And I'm Charis, Head of the Order of Mercy. First of all, that was a wonderful performance. I've never seen such excellent legwork~"

"Me neither," Steinn quietly said, though only those at the table would have heard him. Gabbie ended up laughing silently at him. Meanwhile, Athena grinned in amusement and Morgana squinted at Charis. To be fair, she said 'legwork', not 'footwork'.

"Now, similar to what Theodore said, your performance was wonderful, but there could have been more. In your cases, there could have been much more. Now don't fret, I have nothing but praise for your dancing, but I implore you to push yourselves as far as you can. The five of you can go so far together, I just know it," she explained, balling her hands into fists in excitement.

Next up was Shadrak, who was to review Gytha's dance. He wasn't sure what he was going to say or how to say it, so at first, he was just standing there, glancing around to see who was looking his way ... which turned out to be almost everyone. "Umm, Gytha?" he spoke up to get her attention and let her know it was her turn for mentions, honorable or otherwise. Lord Truth ... please help me. I really don't want to embarrass myself here, or Gytha for that matter. And just like that, it came to him. He wasn't sure what it was, but he knew the words would come on their own, so he decided to speak.

Clearing his throat as well, he began. "That was a great idea, Gytha, your dance was not only a pleasant surprise, but let everyone else get in on the action as well. I didn't see anyone else come up with something so clever, so you deserve an extra round of applause for that." Immediately, he began clapping and trying to get the others clapping with him. It actually worked, to his surprise. He decided to stop there while he was still ahead. Telling her that she could have come up with a more competitive dance just seemed stupid at this point. Everyone in the room probably already knew that she wasn't in this to win, just to enjoy herself, so he just carefully sat down after that, smiling nervously as the applause continued.

Next up was Steinn, who began to stand up in place of Shadrak. Gabbie was beginning to wonder if Steinn was familiar enough with human society to not say anything awkward or strange while speaking with them. Realizing she could easily help him if he needed it by just 'thinking' about appropriate material, she decided to just wait and see. "You people ..." Steinn pointed at the buzzed group with a straight finger and a grin. "Excellent performance. I was being both entertained and educated at the same time. I only wish you had more time to prepare; the show you could have given us would have undoubtedly been even more ... stimulating."

Oh I love it when he uses sexy words ...

Steinn smirked as he glanced back at Gabbie. "Regrettably, your dancing may have proved a bit too foreign for most audiences, but rest assured, with enough time, it will easily catch on." With that, he nodded at them, signalling that he was finished, and began to sit back down.

Now it was Simon's turn, and Athena was beginning to wonder who was going to give honorable mentions to Athrun and Angelica. All five judges had taken a turn at this point, after all, so either someone else would have a second go or they had something else in mind.

Simon smiled in amusement and admiration at Joshua, who smiled bashfully back at him before stepping forward. There were no need for words between these two, but Simon did so anyway for the sake of everyone else. "You good sir, have in enthralled and inspired me beyond measure this evening. Such boldness, such confidence, such affection ... and all of it rushing out from your soul to give new life and energy to your movements! I ... I ... there are no words. I wish only to remember what amazing feats I have seen from you this day, and one day soon, learn to express myself, even if only a tenth as brilliantly. Please give this man a round of applause; he was giving his true feelings for a woman physical form!"

That is one passionate guy, Gabbie noted as she began clapping with an awkward smile on her face.

After the applause, Athena leaned forward slightly, trying to figure out the little mystery that was Athrun and Angelica's judge.

Main Hall

Greta patted Jericho on the back a few times before starting to sway a little. "Yeah you'll be alright. I had to get used to this stuff too and it sure didn't take long, heheheh." It didn't even occur to her that it might be something other than the strong drink.

Kitchen

"Hmm ... 'suzume' ... is she Kigenese by any chance? If so I think I know just what she's looking for," the woman said with a smile. Apparently she had this one covered.

Carriage

"I'm not sure ... if they aren't going to let us in, they aren't going to let us in. I'm still worried about Bert, but I don't want to start something here ..." Raquel was indecisive as always, but perhaps for good reason this time. They really didn't have much information to go on, about Bert or these 'wild animals' the guards were so alarmed about.

Answering Blake while Raquel, horrifically misinformed, mulled over her options, the driver nodded and said, "Try to stay out of trouble, would you?" and turned to retrieve something. Nadine stepped out of the wagon as he went to the driver seat.

She took a moment to glance over at the gate and wondered whether she should go over and get some more information. When she glanced at the driver and saw him pull a sword and a pistol out from underneath the seat, her right eyelid twitched. "... really?" They were both in a hidden compartment no less.

He returned to Blake and promptly presented the weapons. "I do hope you won't actually be needing these, sir."

Meanwhile by the gate, some culture clash was underway. "H-holy mother of avians, what in the blazes is that?! Is that a scythe?!" the guard asked, taking a step back when Annelise approached. If only he'd heard the question in full, she might have gotten her answer instead of another question ... "Who are you, lady?" ... and another. "What are you doing here? Are you behind this?" ... and another, and another ....

[Ether]

"Ain't that surprisin', is it? Mosta th'people who use these carriages are noblemen. Paranoid guys like that always wanna keep weapons around." Arietta noted, as Nadine seemed to be somewhat disgruntled by the driver's weapons cache.

***

"Yes, it's a scythe... quite a few humans have told me that they find them quite scary, recently." Annelise replied, at the guardsman's reaction to her weapon... was it really so extraordinary...? She hadn't even lit the thing up yet, after all.

"I am acting as escort of Miss Valcyn at the moment, we would like passage through this gate and would like to know why it is closed, and no, I have nothing to do with the reason you've closed the gate, else I would not be asking you why it was closed." The fallen woman replied, firing out answers in tune with the guardsman's erratic stream of questions.

[Mercakete]

Gytha was enjoying the next set of congratulations more thoroughly than the first if only because they were simpler and easier to understand (though perhaps not since she translated "legwork" as running an errand and so she thought the five ladies were being complimented on the favor they did the crowd by entertaining them.) When it was her own turn to be judged, though, she was a little surprised to see it was Shadrak doing the talking and wondered just what he would say.

She was pleasantly surprised at his review, having been expecting something more critical. They hadn't gotten along the best in the group, but now Gytha was beginning to wonder if she'd misjudged him in the past. More recently, people in the group hadn't looked entirely kindly on her, but here was Shadrak calling her clever and saying he enjoyed her dance. It was so rooted in her background that she couldn't help but take the compliments personally. She found herself smiling as far towards the beginning as when he'd mentioned her getting the crowd involved. A large group of people singing, dancing and clapping their hands, all just having a good time together... It was something that she loved and it was something that she'd tried to bring to this ball with the dance, even if it was only half intentionally. When he called for an extra round of applause, she was flattered and when the crowd actually complied, she blushed, grinning widely and a bit bashfully. As she looked around, her eyes shone with delight. She was just overjoyed that everyone seemed to have a good time merrymaking along with her; she won the prize she didn't even fully realize she was going for.

She was so happy about the results of her own performance that she paid small attention to Steinn's review. She was glad that people enjoyed the group dance, which was the gist of what she got from Steinn's explanation. She also caught that given time, it would probably become more popular in Ursium. That was a nice thought: more people finding their sense of adventure and trying things from other, distant countries. She did feel glad for Joshua when his review was spoken since he seemed to have an impact as well, and she clapped for him when applause was called for. She hoped that whoever she'd been dancing for cared about him just as much as he apparently cared for her.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Yeah, but she's from...uh...an island," Norbert replied, trying to figure out what the name of that place was called. It was too foreign for him to remember easily and he doubted he could have pronounced it correctly anyway. In an attempt to be more helpful, he offered what he remembered of the name, "I think it began with a 'C'... Uh... Chee-sa? Chee-sa...something...?" He was quickly frustrating himself.

[-Cynthia-]

I could do that footwork, it ain't that tough, Nadya thought to herself, though the commentary coming in prevented her from voicing this.

Nadya cocked an eyebrow as Shadrak gave his commentary to Gytha. What exactly qualifies these judges anyway? Is Shadrak a dancer or did they just kinda choose whoever wanted to do it? she thought to herself. Her attention shifted to Steinn when time came for their commentary.

She ended up rolling her eyes at the end of it. Great, the Fallen prince likes our dance. Maybe he'll decide to keep us as dancin' slaves instead of havin' us for dinner. "Well, that seems like the end of it. I'm ready to go," she said abruptly, turning to Haythem.

Edited December 8, 2013 by -Cynthia-

[ReformBlade]

"Well not everyone possesses such tolerance, all in all I think it's better that some people have an innate dislike for alcohol." Aneda pondered, not entirely sure what she meant or said, but hey it sounded all well and good to her at that moment.

"I don't hate the stuff... I just can't handle anything I try apparently. I need extremely weak doses in order to not... well, do this." Motioning to himself, Jericho shook his head. He almost wanted to try another swig of it but his brain mentally slapped itself for that and he didn't reach for that bottle.

Aneda sighed and offered the bottle back to Greta. "Here, not much left, but I think you should finish it off, you'd probably enjoy it more than I would at this rate, heehee..."

[Snike]

"I hope I won't, either," Blake said, as he accepted the sword and the pistol. Upon inspection of the former, it was single-grip, with a double-edged blade. Fairly standard, but he wasn't expecting anything fancy. Besides, he had the pistol with him, worst-case scenario.

"I'll be back," he said, as he opened the carriage door and stepped out, a weapon in each hand. After sheathing the sword and placing the gun as safely on his belt as he could, the man made his way over to the guards, who were... slightly intimidated by Steinn's guard, who had made her way up to the gate while they discussed the delay.

"I am Lord Frode. I heard there was an 'outbreak' of wild animals," Blake said, as he approached them, as he produced his emblem. "Unfortunately, we are on an urgent matter, and can defend ourselves. Would it be too much to ask to open the gates, at least, for us? Time is of the essence."

Edited December 9, 2013 by Snike

[Phoenix]

Ballroom

"We can leave now?" Haythem replied in surprise.

"No, I think you're forgetting the prince," Morgana noted, her voice sounding casual, but her glare telling another story entirely.

That caused Athrun to sigh. Was it really their turn? He just hoped there wasn't going to be too much focus on the ... well anything really. He had a feeling the Head Mercinic would mention the sexual nature of the performance and he had a really bad feeling he would receive at least one request for sword lessons, which he just couldn't do.

Meanwhile at the judge's table ... "So should we handle the prince and his partner now?" Steinn inquired.

Main Hall

"Thank you so much, Aneda," Greta said as she took the bottle, and flipped it upside down. The rest of the booze flowed into her mouth and once the bottle was empty, she set it down on the step above her and slowly slid onto her side, lying down on the staircase. "Hehehhh ... I feel much better now, and thanks to y'all, I probably won't be pukin' wildly in a half hour or so ... that's good, right? Mmm ..."

Kitchen

"An island, huh? Even better. Is it Tracea or someplace smaller?" she asked as Bert tried to pronounce one of the places. She wasn't sure which one he was trying to say, and so smiled in amusement at first. "Let's see ... 'cheeee-' ... 'cheesa-' no ... No 'cheesa's. Chousokabe, maybe?" The process of deduction triumphed that day.

Gate

"Eh," Nadine said, still finding the situation a bit much but accepting it just the same. Since Raquel was stepping out of the carriage too now, she figured they were at least going to be all heading over to the gate. Hopefully they would be coming right back and returning to the party.

Over by the gate ... "Woman, that's a scythe, and not a rusty old one either. Is it double edged too or are my eyes deceiving me? Oh, never mind." The guard adjusted his collar and cleared his throat. He seemed rather calm and composed after that. Around the same time, Blake arrived. Since he wasn't carrying a drastically repurposed farm tool, the guard kept his cool this time around. Answering both of them, he said, "Alright then ... all we've heard so far is that there are some seriously dangerous creatures running around attacking anyone they can catch. We've already got three confirmed casualties, including a soldier. It's safer if we control the traffic in this sector and keep the gate closed until further notice. I seriously advise against going in right now." I'd also advise against going through one of the gates that are probably still open to the north and east of here, but I really don't want to give these people any ideas.

As Nadine suspected, Raquel began moving toward the gate, prompting a sigh from her. Looking to the driver, she said, "Could you just wait here for a minute?"

"Of course."

Sighing again, Nadine glanced back at the gate. "I have such a bad feeling about this, but oh well ...."

[Ether]

"Very well, thank you." Annelise replied, stepping away from the man, her scythe, both edges, shimmering in the light as she took off with a flap of her wings, landing in front of Raquel.

"There are gates to the East and North that are likely still open, as far as the guardsman is aware... we likely will not be allowed through this checkpoint without use of force." She noted to the merchant, low enough so that the guard wouldn't hear and catch his error.

[-Cynthia-]

"I guess we gotta stick around for this part then," Nadya said, shrugging. It was tempting to just walk out, but she figured she shouldn't intentionally insult the assorted nobility.

[ReformBlade]

"Fire in my chest for you not puking? Eh... I suppose there are worse trades." Tons worse. He thought, reflecting on random events from his past.

"I bet you wouldn't be saying that if you didn't think she was so 'good lookin' hahahaaaa~" Aneda just had to chime in in an attempt to embarrass him. It sort of worked.

Staring at Aneda, and an occasional glance over towards Greta, "You uh... shut up. Ain't true. Not admitting to that BS."

"Bingo~" she rang out, clapping in mock applause. Whispering loudly on purpose to Greta, "I'd be careful, he seems like the clingy type"

[Mercakete]

"Yeah, that sounds right," Norbert replied with a nod when the cook asked if "Chousokabe" was the correct name. Glad that's over with... Kigenese names are so hard to pronounce...

[Phoenix]

Ballroom

"I'll start this one off if no one else minds," Charis said, already in the middle of standing up. Once she got a ceding smile and a deep shrug from Steinn, she straightened her posture and said, "Milord, Miss Angelica ... if I may ..."

"... and here we go," Athrun quietly muttered as he stepped forward a bit with Angelica at his side. He could hear Athena snickering behind him; the fact she was covering her mouth didn't seem to be keeping the sound from reaching him.

"I should start by saying that your performance was incredible. To do the things the two of you did, and unassisted by magic no less, is truly beyond words. Just the same, I can't help but feel your dance was both reckless and ... sexually overt. I'm only here to judge the dances and not your behavior, but please, your highness, show some restraint." What would have seemed like serious scolding devolved into something bordering on a playful jab as Athena's snickering began to get people in the audience chuckling and giggling too.

This helped Athrun to loosen up some, and he smiled nervously at Charis before saying, "I understand, Charis. I know you didn't come here hoping to see anything of that nature, and I-... we apologize ... to anyone else whom might have been put off by it as well." He raised his voice so others in the room could easily catch it. "Competing against my sister in dance is no easy feat, as you all know," he added, prompting more soft laughter throughout various parts of the ballroom.

Ugh ... he's so damn responsible. It's not funny anymore, Athena muttered to herself.

Even Charis was smiling by this point. "Indeed, milord. Indeed." With a small bow, she sat down.

Main Hall

"Mmm-I'm a little clingy too," Greta mumbled in response, looking as if she was nearly asleep. She had a drunkard's vague smile, but a tear ran over the bridge of her nose and onto her other eye as she said, "Let the people I love outta my sight for even a second and ... and they'll end up ..." More tears had come in the middle of her explanation, but her smile was enduring, if only a little.

Kitchen

"Duly noted, then," the woman replied with a smile.

Gate

"North and east ...?" Raquel echoed, trying to picture where they were in her head. That was when she remembered there were a total of four gates leading to locations like theirs. It made sense to leave out the fourth in that case, since circling around all of Europa just to get inside was completely asinine and would take several hours at the least. Though, taking a carriage also seemed a bit pointless when she knew she could probably warp people over the wall, staff or no. The only reason she hadn't brought it up was because Nadine didn't know about her emblem abilities yet, and she hadn't found the time to explain the details.

"Let's head to the northern gate then. That's closer to Weyland's, I think," she decided.

[Mercakete]

Well, it seemed that this cook had something in-mind for Suzume, so Norbert went back to focusing on his own order, handing the notebook over to the woman. "I'll let you figure something out for my own dinner, I guess. I don't really have anything in-mind besides what's already written there," he replied. That seemed like a bit of a rude way to end it, so he added a "thank you" and exited the kitchen, walking back over to the table and sitting back down.

There, he informed Suzume, "They're handling it now. And yeah, they said they have plenty of rice and fish...or at least indicated it."

[Snike]

"I see. Thank you, officer," Blake said, as the winged woman returned to the carriage. He followed suit, only catching the last part of the conversation.

"I suppose you've heard, then. I could persuade the guards, but I'd rather not endanger everyone else passing through here," Blake said, as he crossed his arms.

[Ether]

"It's a bit of a detour, but if it's still open, it would be less hassle to use that gate." Annelise responded, before turning to the pair of humans and drawing her scythe. Her interest was piqued, now.

"But is it really that scary? A lot of people have said it was scary, today."

***

So that was the feedback, huh? Well, the head of the church of Mercy being on the sexually repressive side wasn't exactly a shocker, she supposed.

"Well, when you only have fifteen minutes to get a routine down and practice it, you kind of default on that sort of thing, I guess." Angelica chimed in with a smile.

***

Faatina noticed the tension growing in the air between Athena's dance partner and some of her companions, but chose not to comment on it... likely for the best.

***

"The North gate, huh? That's pretty close to boss' place." Arietta noted, as the location was brought up.

Edited December 10, 2013 by Ether

[ReformBlade]

Oh, tears, crap, I can't deal with that. Tears were a thing Jericho never knew how to deal with, others or his own. He found it even more difficult if he didn't know the person and he was pretty sure the person being inebriated was also something he wasn't exactly prepared to deal with as well.

"Ooooh... No crying, Greta, calm down." Aneda was a bit mixed just by looking at the lady on the stairs. She went and wiped them away, being the personal space ignoring person she was and smiled at her.

Well good thing she stepped in. But I can't help it... "Well... you can't hold on forever, regardless. No one can do that, so... don't give yourself an impossible rung to reach, lady."

[Phoenix]

Ballroom

"Yes, I understand that," Charis replied to Angelica, only a second or two before Simon took initiative.

"Prince Shastak," he raised his voice as he stood up to take his turn. Charis sighed silently and took her seat with the rest of the judges.

Athena's eyes widened in surprise once she realized that all the judges were going to comment on Athrun's dancing. She had four more instances of this to stand through? Uuuuugh-why did I say five judges instead of ... I don't know ... one or ... oh ... half of one maybe. She was delving into silly ideas, but that sort of thing was comforting at times like this.

"I must say, how were you able to handle that blade--and your lady friend--so effortlessly?" Simon asked, clasping his hands together in excitement.

"Well, if you must know, I-..." Athrun paused as he saw Simon nodding in anticipation. "Heh ... well if you must know, my ... my eyes, my hands ... they've. They've been blessed by Lord Wrath himself. Rest assured, that your prince will be taking an active role in defending this great nation of ours."

Since Simon obviously had nothing bad to say about the dance, it looked like someone else's turn was coming up. Shadrak decided to just get it out of the way and stood up, signalling for Simon to sit down. He hadn't quite finished yet, but supposed he was getting off track.

"I uh ... I really liked the dance you two put together. That was pretty short notice," he began. Now's the part where I'd ask Angelica how the hell she ended up with the prince instead of Gar but that would be kind of tactless. I'll just wait for now; I'm sure she'll tell all later, once there isn't a big crowd. "It's very impressive that you can dance and give a weapon's demonstration at the same time. You even had Angelica handling it at some points."

Gabbie elbowed Steinn in the back gently to get him focusing on her, thought some dirty thoughts, and then got an amused smile from the fallen prince.

"That's all I had to say really. Sorry there wasn't more." With that, Shadrak bowed his head a bit, mimicking Charis for some reason, and then sat d--oh right this is the prince, that's why he did it. Smart kid.

Main Hall

"Mmm'msorryyy," she groaned. It was hard to tell if she was on the verge of laughter or bawling. "She tried to sit herself back upright but stopped about seventy degrees and used one hand for support while the other wiped her eyes. "It's so weird. Just thinkin' about it and the tears come, even if I'm not upset. I shhhould head over to the kishen and see if I can't find another bottle," she said, nearly slurring her words. Aside from her tears, she didn't look so upset, though.

Dining Hall

"Oh that's good. Thank you, Bert." At least there was a good chance she could eat something she was used to now. She figured something about how the food was served here would surprise her but she wasn't sure in what way just yet.

Carriage

"Well ..." Nadine wasn't about to let Raquel finish that thought without considering something important, first. "Keep in mind, Raquel, you're going to see this friend of yours, not pacify 'wild animals'," Nadine noted. "It'd be nice if we could turn back now, but I guess if that was going to happen we wouldn't even be having this conversation.

"I ... really hope this has nothing to do with us. Anyway, let's go to the north gate and try to get in that way," Raquel decided.

"... right," Nadine said, looking listless once more.

"Very well, if you'll all come inside, I'll get us on the move again," the driver requested.

[ReformBlade]

Not expecting to drink any more than he had already, Jericho gave a doubting glance to Aneda then turned that gaze right back to Greta, not entirely sure how to ask but going to ask all the same, "Um... far be it from me to question you on all this, ma'am, but weren't you gonna try to avoid overindulging?"

"Jericho!" Aneda replied, astonished and almost offended for Greta, "She's had a hard time, let the girl drink if she wants to!"

Hands up in self defense, "Hey now! i'm all about trying to make sure someone doesn't regret things later down the line, I just want to be sure that that's what she really wants to do and it ain't just a gut reaction to what she's trying to deal with! I've seen some... unpleasantness with regards to this kind of stuff." He didn't specify, on what he was referring to anyway, "As much as I don't like to drink, I understand it's how some people cope, and I'm ok with that. I personally wish some people were stronger but not everyone has strength to just persevere through their own problems and this is a way for them to do it... If you want, Greta, I'll go get one for you."

By this point, Aneda had gone to sit next to Greta, helping prop her up and keep her balance, "Well?" she added to Jericho's question like she was in on the whole thing the whole time, just joking before.

[Snike]

"After you all," Blake said, as he made his way back to the side of the carriage, ready to help the others back in. He needed to be closest to the door, just in case one of those 'creatures' showed up.

[Snowy_One]

Robin sighed as she entered into the dining hallway. It wasn't that big an issue for her. She was just passing through, ignoring Tia, Bert, and all the rest, as she headed for the kitchen. She had asked a maid where it was and wasn't surprised in the bit by its location. She was certain most of the recipes would be stuff only cookable in a posh dining hall, like carefully tenderized meat and truffles, but it was worth the off-chance that they'd have something she could cook on the trail anyways. Right...

---

Alex stood up and headed to his easel, getting ready to paint and the winners were announced. It wouldn't be long now before this boring gig was done. He was certain the dancers had enjoyed it, but to him, this was almost on par with twirling napkins about on candle-sticks, except with that he actually got to interact. Ah well. The ball was almost done.

[Ether]

Ah, what a sweet event. After all that had occurred earlier, it seemed that to the last, every judge was to comment on their particular performance... seeing Athena's eyes go wide from the corner of her vision, Angelica flashed the princess a quick smile... nothing to be taken as openly malicious, of course, but... oh well.

The second man seemed more enthralled with Athrun's swordplay than anything, and Shadrak... interestingly enough he had been selected as a judge, but she supposed she wasn't one to talk. It was written all over the poor druid's face that the one thing he wanted to ask wouldn't be taken very well if he asked it, she almost felt sorry for him about that... almost.

***

"Then it's decided." Annelise noted, before retaking her spot on top of the carriage.

[Phoenix]

Ballroom

Since Steinn was up, he stood from his seat and did something few were expecting to see done again; he pointed at Athrun and Angelica and said, "You two ..." Athena thought he was just trying to get his attention again but that seemed like a bit much, and who was he to be pointing at her brother, the prince, like that?

"I saw everything you did there, even some things the others clearly missed. That was very clever, Prince Athrun, Angelica. I know such carnal behavior can go unappreciated, and ironically so at such a function as this, but I certainly enjoyed the show you two put on."

Now say something about them getting together so I can have the laugh of a lifetime, Gabbie mentally urged him. That was when Weyland showed up with the others. He motioned for them not to follow him as he approached the judge's table from behind. Tapped Gabbie on the shoulder to get her attention and then whispered into her ear. "We have a situation. I just got confirmation from one of the royal guardsmen that the southwestern part of the city is being locked down to contain vicious animals. They're demons. Steinn's brother may finally be making his move.

"Well ... at least they didn't crash the party ... ... yet," Gabbie muttered her reply. Steinn didn't have to overhear that since he was listening to Weyland's thoughts and realized that he needed to wrap up this judging job as quickly as possible.

"Hmm ... I hesitate to say this and yet, I feel it needs to be said just the same," Steinn continued, slightly distracted by the latest news. "Consider seeing more of each other. There's a synergy there unlike anything I've ever seen. That's all." With that, he sat back down and gave Theodore his turn while turning in his chair to face Weyland and Gabbie. He began whispering to them, saying, "If something is happening in the city it is likely just a distraction. You need to get word to your staff; they are going to attack the estate in full force this time. I can guarantee that. We don't have long ...."

Shadrak leaned closer but couldn't catch any of it, but Charis was picking up more or less everything, and a look of utter shock appeared on her face. When Steinn noticed her gawking at them, he held up one finger to his lips and gently shushed her. As much as she wanted to get this out in the open, she knew all it would do is cause a panic and make matters worse. While weighing her options, she kept her eyes on Weyland and Steinn.

Main Hall

"I ... I don'know ..." Greta sleepily muttered in response. "I just need to keep my mind off things ... if you've got a better idea then I'm all ears ..." By that point her eyes had closed and she was half asleep on Aneda's shoulder. "Just need to ... stop thinkin' about it ... that's all ...."

Carriage

"Well that's convenient," Nadine said, as Annelise got back on the carriage's roof. She turned to try and get back in as well, but a distant gunshot drew her attention back to the gate. Some of the people around were looking to the source as well, but there was nothing amiss in sight, near or beyond the gate. "Raquel, ... you know my stance on this, so I'll just get in the carriage and hope you come to your senses before we get involved in this."

She's right ... this is insane. The last time we got involved in something that didn't involve Sardis, people actually died.

Your enemies aren't people? Hypnos inquired, feigning confusion.

That's ... that's not what I meant. People on our side died. With so few of us right now I'm worried this might turn out even worse than before. As she wrestled with whether or not to actually go through with this, she accepted Blake's help into the carriage. What do I do if one of them gets killed over this?

[Ether]

"Well, I wouldn't be opposed to something like that... though I think there are some third parties who might be..." Angelica replied with a light laugh as Steinn suggested they see more of each other... she did wonder what sort of reactions that comment from him would garner from the others.

***

"Sounds like another day full a'bullshit in the life of Raquel Valcyn, aye?" Arietta jabbed with a chuckle, though soon after her expression grew more serious.

"We should get goin' before shit gets much worse."

Edited December 11, 2013 by Ether

[Mercakete]

Norbert just shrugged in response to Suzume and leaned his elbow onto the table again. There wasn't much else to do but wait for the time being. Waiting for the food and waiting for Anna to be done with them. He noticed Robin walk by, but he didn't think now was such a good time to offer to talk. For all he knew, he still had some mandatory settling in to do. How she'd asked to speak with him indicated she wanted it to be a private meeting, too, so he'd grant her that courtesy when he was able.

In an effort to pass the time, he asked Suzume, "Run into any trouble on the way to Europa?"

[Snike]

Once Raquel and the others were settled into the carriage, Blake got in, closed the door, drew the pistol he had been given, and drew the curtains, so that he could see through the window.

"I'd suggest we'd get weapons ready, just in case," he said, without looking to the other occupants.